Preparing these cookies requires a bit of a time investment, but they are such a special treat we know you’ll find them well worth the effort.
Hungarian Kiffles (Kiflis) Are A Holiday Tradition
Being of Hungarian descent, kiffles (also spelled kifli) have always been on hand at our family gatherings during the holidays. They take some work to prepare, but one bite will prove they’re well worth the effort.
Kiffles are delicate Hungarian cookies made with cream cheese dough and filled with various flavors of pastry filling. They make a beautiful contribution to any holiday cookie platter.
About Kiffle (Kifli) Fillings
It is very important that you use fillings that are made specifically for pastry in your kiffles. Pie filling will be too loose and jams and preserves can produce unpredictable results.
We’ve always used Solo Brand Cake & Pastry Filling and have never been disappointed. Solo makes a variety of flavors in 12-ounce cans. Pictured here are poppy seed, cherry, almond, and apricot.
Prune (lekvar in Hungarian), walnut, and poppy seed are the most traditional Hungarian choices and if you read through the comments, you’ll see that a few of our readers have included instructions for making these two fillings from scratch.
Pro Tip: How to Make All Your Kiffles the Same Size
Making sure your kiffles are uniform in size is not only about a beautiful presentation, it’s about even baking. The trick is to roll the dough into a perfect 9-inch square. Here’s how to do it:
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper 15 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fold 4-1/2 inches of each short side toward the middle. Make sharp creases and unfold.
- Fold 3 inches of each long side toward the center. Make sharp creases there as well and you should have a well-defined 9-inch square in the center of your parchment paper.
- With the flaps facing up, dust the parchment liberally with flour and place a portion of dough in the center of the square.
- Dust the top of the dough with flour as well, then fold the parchment along your creases to make an “envelope” around your dough.
- Turn it over (flap sides down) and place it on your rolling surface.
- Roll the dough from the center toward the corners as directed above.
- Remove the dough carefully to avoid tearing.
Once you have the dough rolled into a perfect square, you can easily mark off even intervals of 1-1/2-inches (6 per side) with the tip of a knife. Use your pastry wheel to make the cuts and you will get 36 kiffles (kiflis) per square.
Hungarian Kiffles
Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 to 2-1/2 cups cake and pastry filling, about two 12-ounce cans
Instructions
Prepare the Dough:
- Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until very smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing just until combined. The dough will be quite moist, but not sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a square approximately 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 4 equal pieces and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, a minimum of 2 hours.
Roll and Cut the Dough:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove one portion of the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a liberally floured surface.
- Dust the top of the dough with flour and cover with a sheet of wax or parchment paper. Working from the center toward the corners, roll the dough out to a 1/8-inch-thick square. It should measure about 9 inches.
- For best results, see our recipe notes below to learn how to roll your dough into a perfect square.
- Using a pastry wheel or a sharp knife, cut your dough both lengthwise and crosswise into small squares.
- Your total yield will depend on how large you make them. We recommend 1-1/2-inches which will give you 36 kiffles per square of dough or about 12 dozen total.
- The best way to keep the size even is to use a ruler and mark all 4 sides of the dough square at intervals with the tip of a knife. You can use the handle of a spatula to guide you as you cut to keep your lines straight as well (similar to drawing straight lines on a sheet of paper).
Fill and Seal the Kiffles:
- Working as quickly as possible, place a small mound of filling (about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon) in the center of each square. If the filling flavor you’re using is relatively smooth you can spoon it into a small freezer bag, snip off a tiny bottom corner and squeeze the filling onto the squares. This works particularly well with the poppy and almond flavors.
- Lift two opposite corners of the dough over the filling and gently pinch them together. Fold that "point" over to one side, moisten the tip of your finger with a bit of water and smooth it down gently on one side of the kiffle. This prevent the kiffles from popping open as they bake.
- Important Note: The various filling flavors spread a bit differently during baking so you may want to fill a few "test" kiffles and bake them to gauge the right amount of filling for each type.
Bake the Kiffles:
- Arrange the kiffles 1 inch apart on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until barely golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully transfer the kiffles to cooling racks.
- Repeat the process with the remaining 3 portions of dough, using different filling flavors if desired.
How to Store Kiffles:
- Store kiffles between layers of waxed paper in a tightly closed container and refrigerate. Bring them to room temperature (30 minutes out of the fridge), arrange on a plate and dust lightly with powdered sugar just before serving. It’s not advisable to top them with powdered sugar before storing.
- Makes 8 to 12 dozen
Notes
How To Roll Your Dough Into a Perfect 9-Inch Square:
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper 15 inches wide by 18 inches long. Fold 4-1/2 inches of each short side toward the middle. Make sharp creases and unfold.
- Fold 3 inches of each long side toward the center. Make sharp creases there as well and you should have a well-defined 9-inch square in the center of your parchment paper.
- With the flaps facing up, dust the parchment liberally with flour and place a portion of dough in the center of the square. Dust the top of the dough with flour as well, then fold the parchment along your creases to make an "envelope" around your dough.
- Place it on your rolling surface, flap sides down and roll the dough from the center toward the corners as directed above. Remove the dough carefully to avoid tearing.
My husbands’ family were Hungarian and I wish to learn more of some dishes.
My mother is Austrian and has always made kifli. Her mother had made a cheese filling and poppyseed. I grew up with the walnut filling. My dough, though, is made with sour cream. The dough is very silky and soft. My mother also used yeast sometimes.
Deborah–
We made a Slovakian version using sour cream, not cream cheese in the dough. Also, all cookies are brushed with whipped egg white before going into the oven.
Filling was the preferred cooked apricots, or walnuts (crushed and mixed with egg white and sugar), and lekvar (prune).
Easy way to make dough: 1/2 of dough recipe at a time mixed in the food processor: 1 cup of flour, 1 stick real butter, 4 oz. cream cheese. Process till ball forms (so easy). Repeat recipe without washing the equipment. I roll into sm balls. Next day roll each ball out in 10x sugar fill with a little pineapple jam, roll up jelly roll fashion and shape into a crescent before baking. If using a nut mixture- ground walnuts, sugar and egg white.
Why cream cheese and not following the traditional sour cream recipe? To keep closed, use a drop of egg wash.
I can’t find my Hungarian cookie recipe. I have it but it’s on a floppy disk. I’ve made the cookies for years, my mother and grandma before me. My recipe is similiar. We called them Oleo Cookies. You use a lot of oleo. In my recipe, you make the dough, roll it out, spread little pieces of oleo on half the dough, fold the dough, spread more oleo, fold and spread again. Ref for about an hour, take out, roll out again and spread the oleo the same way as before. Ref, take out and roll out. This time you cut the dough in little squares and put your filling on. Fold like your is, and bake. We used ground walnuts and sugar for filling or German prune preserves. When I find the recipe, I’ll post it. We also had Colach but it was a bread roll with walnuts and sugar. Looked like a cake roll, sort of.
My mother made these cookies every year for Christmas. She added a little extra touch though. Dip the top of the unbaked cookie in whipped egg white and then into a mixture of finely ground walnuts and sugar. Bake as directed above. Makes a crisp nutty crust on top. Delicious!
Hi Sandi –
That’s a really nice touch. Bet it looks pretty too. Thanks for sharing.
This is how my nana did them!
Kiflis are the supreme pastry in this house. Have been making them for 40 years at least. Aunt Jean’s (she died last year at 102) has eggs and sourcream…..harder to work with but exquisite, Aunt Pauline’s (also passed away) are so much easier with just cream cheese/ butter/ flour.
Merry Xmas! Jane
This recipe has been lost since my Grandmother died seven years ago. She always made kiffles and kulatch for holidays. I have been looking everywhere for the recipe. As you know the “old school bakers” never measured. My grandmother would use her hand for measuring. I miss her so much. I will now start making these hungarian cookies and dedicate them to my nugmama.
I grew up with these cookies. At every holiday these were always at my grand mothers kitchen table,I had lost her recipe but now tradition goes on with this recipe. It’s exactly as I remember “nanny”s. Thank you!
These cookies were called “kolaches” (pronounced klach-keys) by my entire in-law family members. They were of Ukrainian/Polish descent. I love to use WONDRA flour (but it’s a little tricky to work with) to bake these. They come out especially delicate when you use Wondra flour! And also I have successfully made these with CHEESECAKE filling, only I make it thicker)!
These are so delicious and pretty! I love the raspberry filling, especially.